Anonymous, Loose-Knit Group of 'Hacktivists' 20 January 2012

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Anonymous, loose-knit group of 'hacktivists' 20 January 2012

Anonymous, on @anonops, one of the various Twitter accounts used by the group, claimed that Thursday's attacks on the Justice Department and FBI websites were their largest ever, involving over 5,600 people.

The distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks were similar to those staged by Anonymous in late 2010 on the Amazon, Visa, MasterCard and PayPal websites in retaliation for their decisions to stop working with WikiLeaks.

In a typical DDoS attack, a large number of Anonymous, which briefly knocked the FBI and Justice computers are commanded to simultaneously visit Department websites offline in retaliation for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload, is a shadowy a website, overwhelming its servers, slowing group of international hackers with no central hierarchy. service or knocking it offline completely.

The defense of WikiLeaks by Anonymous was an extension of "Operation Payback," a movement Anonymous, which briefly knocked the FBI and which began on the Internet messageboard 4Chan Justice Department websites offline in retaliation in September 2010. for the US shutdown of file-sharing site Megaupload, is a shadowy group of international Operation Payback involved cyber attacks on the hackers with no central hierarchy. websites of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), Recording Industry Association of The temporary disabling of the US government America (RIAA) and others over their vigorous websites is the latest exploit by the loose-knit copyright protection efforts. hacker activists, or "hacktivists," who have taken credit for scores of online attacks over the past few "Operation Payback stands for free speech and no years. censorship," an Anonymous member told AFP in an online chat at the time. The attacks range from the nuisance-like -- the FBI and Justice Department websites were back up The RIAA and MPAA websites were also targeted within a few hours -- to the truly damaging by Anonymous on Thursday in retaliation for the US involving the loss of data and the exposure of government shutdown of Megaupload.com, which private financial information. the US authorities accused of massive copyright infringement. According to computer security researchers, Anonymous does not have a central authority but Beyond DDoS attacks, Anonymous has also taken operates with a "hive mind mentality," agreeing on credit for numerous other hacks, most recently the targets in discussions in Internet chat rooms and theft of emails and credit card information for striking simultaneously. subscribers to US intelligence analysis firm Stratfor.

Anonymous said the Stratfor hack was in retaliation

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for the prosecution of Bradley Manning, the US Army private accused of leaking more than 700,000 US documents to WikiLeaks in one of the most serious intelligence breaches in US history.

A number of Anonymous members have been arrested in Britain and the United States, but law enforcement authorities have emphasized that it is difficult to trace savvy computer users who know how to hide their tracks.

In September, the FBI arrested a member of the Anonymous-affiliated Lulz Security in connection with a crippling cyberattack on Japanese electronic giant Sony's online operations.

Sony's PlayStation Network, Qriocity music streaming service and Sony Online Entertainment were targeted by hackers beginning in April of last year.

Over 100 million accounts were affected and it took Sony months to completely restore its online services.

The Sony hacks were both claimed and denied by Anonymous -- a not infrequent occurrence with a group that does not speak with a single voice.

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